KEN WILBER and REINCARNATION
Ken Wilber’s defining of vision logic and the nondual or One Taste awareness, that is in
essence enlightenment, in his book, INTEGRAL PSYCHOLOGY, presented me with the
unanswerable problem of the “bardo” realm or Reincarnation. I encountered an
explanation of Wilber’s slant towards Reincarnation in Frank Visser’s new book , KEN
WILBER PASSION FOR THOUGHT. I claim that upon careful examination of these
two concepts or realities, vision logic and nonduality, and how they interact with one
another, that they contradict Wilber’s thinking concerning Reincarnation.
The nondual reality is not described as a level like the transpersonal levels that
precede it, the psychic, subtle and causal. Instead, it is the grounding of the other levels
and of all existence. Vision logic is the foundation between the lower level realms and
the higher transpersonal realms. According to Willber, during the process of
reincarnation the individual (he/she) descends into the gross or physical realm and
personal identity is then lost. I claim that if we take seriously Wilber’s defining of vision
logic and the nondual level then the self-identity of the individual is not obliterated. As
both the grounding of nonduality and the foundation offered by vision logic are necessary
and if the lower level vision logic is destroyed then the grounding becomes a pure
abstract, transcendent emptiness. Conversely, if vision logic is not grounded in the
Ultimate source or there is no inner grasping of Reality, then vision logic is directed more
towards personal egoistic assessments concerning scientific and system theories
reflecting the material world only.
I now must show how this paradoxical movement encapsulates my argument refuting
Wilber’s thinking concerning Reincarnation.
Socrates’ First Moral Practical Principle will offer some insight into this paradox. His
first Moral Principle states that it is wrong to injure another person even if he/she has
injured you. He followed this Principle even when faced with his death, as he felt that if
he were to escape from Athens in order to avoid the death penalty he would in fact be
injuring the state that had nourished, educated and allowed him to Philosophize. Coupled
with this Principle is another dimension. Or strictly speaking,Socrates felt that there also
existed what can be called a Theological Principle that represents the formless, unknown
reality of God. He felt he could not know or understand this reality. He claimed that
due to this inability to have direct access to the Divine, he knew that he knew nothing.
This is called the Socratic Irony, as it is apparent that the Practical Moral Principle, which
gives form to concrete reality, must touch upon the formless reality of the Theological
Principle or the Good as in Platonic thinking, in order to “ring true.” In like manner the
two realities, vision logic and nondual, in order to become the more of a greater Principle
must form a paradoxical movement that abides both within the grounding of the Ultimate
source and the foundation of vision logic.
The above can be summarized as follows with deductive reasoning called modus
tollens. If p then q (p is the premise and q represents the conclusion). Also if it is not the
case that q then it is not case that p. It is as follows:
The vision logic self is the foundation for transpersonal awareness eventuating in
the mystical experience of One Taste or the nondual, and nondual or One Taste is the
grounding for the transpersonal levels and for all existence. (Premise)
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Then the vision logic self is the foundation for the grounding and the nondual
grounding is the grounding for the foundation of vision logic. (Conclusion)
And if it is not the case that q, then it is not the case that p. The above argument is a
means of examining Wilber’s thinking concerning the “bardo” realms and Reincarnation.
The conclusion reveals that the grounding depends upon the foundation erected by the
self as encompassing the world centric vision of the vision logic self. At the same time
the Godhead or grounding is always present even in the lower gross physical realms, and
as such is necessary for all insights or transformations surrounding the development of
vision towards the Good. Thus, if this conclusion is false then the p or the premise is also
false. This can surely not be the case, as it would collapse Wilber’s schema of
transpersonal levels and at the same time the foundation of the vision logic would not be
a viable reality. As such it seems that this is also a good argument against the “bardo
realms and Reincarnation. I will use the quote from GRACE AND GRIT, written by
Ken Wilber, in Frank Visser’s book, KEN WILBER THOUGHT AS PASSION, to show
Wilber’s thinking on Reincarnation. Concurring with this I will refer to Ken’s book,
INTEGRAL PSYCHOLOGY, in order to show Wilber’s defining of vision logic and
nondual realities.
In THOUGHT AS PASSION, Wilber was described as meditating with Pema Norbu
Rinpoche in hopes of gaining strength from the Tibetan view of death and life after. I
claim that Wilber’s view of life after death is not congruent with the above argument. In
GRACE AND GRIT he examines the Tibetan view as follows:
“ All of the great wisdom traditions maintain that the actual moment of death is an
extremely important and precious opportunity, and for this reason: At the moment of
death, the person has dropped the gross physical body, and therefore the higher
dimensions, the subtle and the causal immediately flash in the deceased awareness. If the
person can recognize these higher and spiritual dimensions, then the person can
acknowledge immediate enlightenment, and do so much more easily than when in the
dense and obstructing physical body.
I’ll be very specific here, because this is exactly the type of training that Treya
had been practicing in preparation for her possible death. This explanation is based on
the Tibetan system, which seems to be the most complete, but is in essential agreement
with the mystical traditions the world over.
The human being has three major levels or dimensions: gross (the body), subtle (the
mind), and causal (spirit). During the dying process, the lower levels of the Great Chain
dissolve first, starting with the body, starting with sensation and perception. When the
body dissolves (ceases functioning), the subtler dimensions of mind and soul come to the
fore, and then, at the actual moment of death, when all levels dissolve, pure
causal Spirit flashes forth in the person’s awareness. If the person can recognize this
Spirit as his or her own true nature, then enlightenment is realized on the spot, and the
person returns permanently to Godhead, as Godhead.
If recognition does not take place, then the person (the soul) enters the
intermediate state, the “bardo” which is said to last up to a few months. The subtle level
emerges, and then eventually the gross emerges, and the person is then reborn in a
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physical body to begin a new life, taking with them, in their soul, whatever wisdom and
virtue (but not specific memories) they may have accumulated in the previous life.
Whatever we might think about the notion of reincarnation or the bardo or
afterlife states, this much seems certain: If you at all believe that some part of you
partakes of the divine, if you at all believe that you have some sort of Spirit that
transcends your mortal body in any sense, then the moment of death is crucial, because at
that point the mortal body is gone, and if there is anything that remains, that is the time to
find out, yes?
Of course, near-death experiences and near death research seems to support this
claim. But all I would like to emphasize is that there are specific meditation exercises
that precisely rehearse this entire process of death and dissolution, and these meditative
exercises were exactly what Treys was practicing when she described “dissolving into all
space.”(Vissar, pages 174-175)
A brief summary of these two concepts or realities, vision logic and nondual has been
taken from Wilber’s book, INTEGRAL PHILOSOPHY.
“ As the gross cognitive lines become more subtle the identity of the self is not lost as
vision logic can partake of both the gross and subtle realms and therefore can be included
as an important component of both these lines. Therefore vision logic is the very highest
and concluding stage or an intermediate stage on the gross line where the physical self is
still very much alive. The gross cognitive lines include sensorimotor or cognition and
perception of the material environment. While concrete operational cognition represents
thought on the environment. And formop is thought on thought and to a significant
degree involved with subtle perception, but this perception is still organized such that
ultimate referents are objects in the gross cognitive line. While vision logic can partake
of both the gross and the subtle realms and can be included as an important component of
both these lines. Gross line with vision logic is generally the highest and concluding
stage or an intermediate stage between the gross realm and transpersonal realizations or
the realms of psychic, causal and nondual. Causal is the root cause or cause of all the
other levels of consciousness and reality, but is itself one level among other levels, and
thus it is not ultimate. The ultimate or nondual state is not one level among others, but
the ground, suchness or emptiness of all levels and States. As with other cognitive lines
and states, nondual only becomes a permanent trait with sustained postformal and postpost conventional development. And this maturation takes place in the gross reflection
cognitive line, and the very highest involve various types of vision Logic.”(Wilber, pages
257-260)
Thus Wilber feels a general competence in vision logic is required for stable growth
into higher levels. Because “everything from the golden rule to the bodhisattva vow is
impossible to comprehend without vision logic. You cannot sincerely vow to liberate all
beings if you cannot take the perspective of all beings in the first place and this is a
capacity of vision logic” (Wilber, page 260) Therefore, without general vision logic as a
foundation, the higher levels (psychic, subtle, causal, and nondual) are experienced only
as passing altered states, without becoming permanent realizations.
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Reincarnation, according to Wilber, presupposes that before the return to the gross
realm, the identity of the individual (he/she) still is capable of recognizing and
experiencing the “bardo” realms. When this aware individual comes face to face with
the Godhead or the One Taste as Ultimate Reality the beginning of the demise of selfidentity occurs. As this confrontation reveals whether the person can withstand this
great reality and if not the descent backward begins, back into the gross physical realm
with the new identity of a newborn child. Of course the soul is the same according to
Wilber and has brought along with it lofty transcendent, abstract attributes, such as love,
forgiveness, compassion, and all other good qualities. Also, Wilber doesn’t seem to
emphasize the negative attributes such as anger, hatred, jealousy or the attributes of
karma. Again, these are abstract qualities and they seem to be floating in no man’s land
without any concrete anchoring in the world. That is until the infant begins to become
aware of his/her surroundings and then supposedly these qualities surface within streams
of consciousness and thus become integrated within the new self-identity of the child.
However, as was stated, vision logic is the very highest and concluding stage or an
intermediate stage on the gross line where the physical self is aware of its own
subjectivity and is the foundation for the transpersonal levels. The foundation resembles
Socrates’ Practical Moral Principle as it encompasses a slow piece meal building up of an
attitude eventuating in choices that point towards The Good or the One Taste experience.
In actuality vision logic is present in all four quadrants, but partakes fully only in the
upper left quadrant or the subjective, I, realm. And it is here that it attests to a fruitful
awakening of one’s own inner self. Thus the foundation has been prepared and like
Socrates the foundation is real or authentic only because the concrete self has connected
wholeheartedly and sincerely with the divine grounding. If not, or if the experience of
the One Taste occurs before this necessary grounding is established then it is likely that
egotistical, narcissistic tendencies will surface. It is as though vision logic is concrete or
particular and anchors the expanding inner awareness and in so doing the movement
towards enlightenment becomes a permanent reality.
The problem of Practice and Theory can be seen in the above. Rosa Luxemberg was
a Philosopher and a leader in pre-world War 1 Polish and German Socialist politics. She
dared to challenge the authority of male leadership of international Socialism. She was
finally murdered in the midst of the failed German revolution, by protofascist troops
controlled by her own Social Democratic party.
She felt that practice or the concrete reality of a situation and the forming of abstract
theories couldn’t be detached from each other. In this approach there was no Universal
truth from which Socialist practice can be deduced. And at the same time there is no
correct Socialist practice from which theory can be read. Responsible action is action
that is thoughtful. Therefore, theory that grasps reality is theory that is practical. In like
manner the concrete cognitive reality of vision logic or Socrates’ Practical Moral
Principle is the inner unconscious grasping of reality. The Socratic Irony attests to this
paradox in that Socrates knew he knew nothing about the Divine or Theological
Knowledge, but nonetheless he felt the grasping of this extreme reality in his flesh and
blood, as he went about living fully and adhering sincerely to his First Moral Principle.
The foundation as vision logic is the concrete movement of the individual, not some
abstract transcendent reality, like the attributes of compassion, wisdom, love, justice that
the soul is supposedly able to retain. Thus the grounding or Ultimate Reality must
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connect with this becoming aware vision logic self in order to be realized. As the Modus
Tellens argument revealed the vision logic self is the foundation for the grounding and
nondual grounding is the grounding for the foundation of vision logic. Therefore it is
illogical to presuppose that this self is obliterated if it cannot fully partake of this
Godhead or Ultimate Reality. If this was the case, then the grounding would not
grounding at all, as a divine grounding always seeks its own grounding in order to be
fully realized. This grounding as grounding in itself grows out of facts, experiences,
insights and transformations of the human being. The grounding is like the soil and when
these experiences are torn from the soil they lose life like uprooted trees. If the
individual’s cognitive characteristics as self identity or his/her moral essence is what
makes vision logic possible, then no matter at what level they might be in following
death, this quality as potential foundation for transpersonal levels must remain. How this
is accomplished it is not within our range of thought to know, or it is beyond our ken.
Another contradiction is the fact that this individual would die on earth and again in the
“bardo” realm. The floating moral forms present in the soul that remain would be left
dangling simply because the new life and its vision logic capacity had not had the
privilege of grasping the Ultimate reality as it very own ability to become the foundation
for the higher levels. The foundation is like the tree firmly rooted in the ground and,
consequently, if the tree is uprooted there is no life or no foundation, and the grounding
as the soil is left without the grounding that is itself. It is not some new person with an
abstract soul that accomplishes this paradoxical movement, but rather it is the person
connecting with his/her soul fully and completely. A grasping of the real that allows the
grounding to become the foundation and the foundation to become the grounding and this
can not be put asunder even if the full potential of the One Taste has not been achieved.
REFERENCES:
Wilber, Ken. 2000. INTEGRAL PSYCHOLOGY, Shambhala Publication.Inc.
Visser, Frank. 2003. KEN WILBER THOUGHT AND PASSION. State University of
New York Press.
Patricia Herron
Philosophy Professor (philosophy & religious studies)
Salem, Or
503 399-9338
patriciaherron@juno.com
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